442 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. I, No. 5 
EXPERIMENTS OF GROWERS IN 1913 
YELLOW BELLFLOWER APPLES 
During the past season a number of growers made more or less exten¬ 
sive tests of the spraying with nitrate of soda. An aggregate of several 
hundred acres of Yellow Bellflower apples was sprayed with nitrate of 
soda plus caustic soda, but practically all of this acreage was in the 
same district in which the writers' experiments were conducted, so the 
crop was lost by frost. It was noticeable during the past summer, 
however, that the foliage in such orchards as received very thorough 
winter nitrate sprayings had a better appearance than in years past, 
due apparently to the effect of the nitrate. One orchard, that of 
MacDonald & Sons, is located in a district that practically escaped frost 
damage, and the results obtained indicated a marked crop increase in 
consequence of the spraying. The entire orchard, with the exception of 
a few trees, was sprayed with various combinations of nitrate of soda 
and lye, and, while no exact data on the production of the unsprayed 
trees as compared with the rest of the orchard was obtained, the amount 
of fruit on the trees indicated that the spraying had produced a marked 
increase. This conclusion was more reliably substantiated by comparing 
the total orchard production this year with that of previous years. 
SWEET CHERRIES 
Mr. A. W. Taite, of Watsonville, sprayed portions of two blocks of 
Napoleon (Royal Ann) cherries with nitrate of soda, i pound to the 
gallon, to which caustic soda was added at the rate of 25 pounds to 200 
gallons. Unsprayed rows adjoining the sprayed ones were left in each 
block. In one case the sprayed trees were distinctly advanced over the 
check trees in coming into bloom. In both cases there was an increase 
in the foliage growth and a consequent improvement in the appearance 
of the trees. No effect on crop production could be noticed, though it 
is possible that treatment in successive years may bring such results. 
PEARS 
For our observations on pears the writers are indebted chiefly to Mr. 
George Reed, of San Jose, who carried out extensive tests in the orchards 
of the J. Z. & G. H. Anderson Fruit Co. The spraying was done about 
the 1st of February and the following notes are taken largely from 
Mr. Reed's observations: 
Clairgeau. —Four rows of about 40 trees each were sprayed with commercial 
lime-sulphur solution (33 0 Baume) diluted 1 to 9. Adjoining these were four rows 
sprayed with lime-sulphur solution diluted 1 to 9 and to which was added nitrate of 
soda at the rate of 1 pound to the gallon of the diluted spray. The rows sprayed 
with the combined solution of nitrate of soda and lime-sulphur came into bloom 
about a week ahead of those that received the lime-sulphur solution alone. The devel¬ 
opment of the fruit on these nitrate-lime-sulphur solution rows continued to show 
an advancement of about a week throughout half the growing season, and at picking 
time the fruit was greener and hung on better than that of the plain lime-sulphur- 
solution rows. Both plats bore a full crop, so there was no opportunity for observing 
any effect on production. The Clairgeau variety blooms early, and the further 
advancement due to nitrate spraying might result in frost injury in some localities. 
The fruit ordinarily has a habit of dropping off during the latter part of the growing 
season. This difficulty, however, was largely eliminated on the nitrate-sprayed rows. 
